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allani

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Everything posted by allani

  1. allani
    Although it keeps him fresh for the matches against Lille.
  2. allani
    Great finish! He deserves that today. Been very good so far.
  3. allani
    BBC describing Ollie's goal as "a scruffy, scruffy goal". Looked to me like a great and very accurate cross and a pretty decent header into the corner of the goal.
  4. allani
    Well he should definitely be on a yellow already. I don't get how you can commit three cynical fouls like he has and not get booked and yet a tug on a shirt is an automatic yellow. The impact is the same - so the punishment should be too.
  5. allani
    I love how all the Brentford players are moaning at the ref on the way back to the tunnel. So far he's not given us a stonewall penalty when Carlos was pulled to the ground and stopped us on an overlap. Yet somehow they feel hard done by.....
  6. allani
    Since January we have signed a (reputedly significant) shirt deal with Adidas and have trebled the value of our front of shirt sponsor (both of which I believe come into effect before the end of June - part of the reason for changing our accounting period to tie in better with our contract periods). Not to mention the fact that we're also due to make a significant improvement in earnings from our PL finish, extra matches in Europe, prize money from Europe, etc. Yet he's still banging on about the same value "FFP hole" required to stop us being docked points next season. Like everyone else he's primarily interested in sensationalist claims that will make people read his **** rather than actually any journalistic integrity - it's why his post is full of "might", "if", "other options", etc. Basically if you put enough caveats in the article if / when Villa don't sell Ramsey then his get out of jail free card is that "I never said that they would sell him just that they might have to if they were short of funds". Of course it would be almost impossible to prove that we never even thought about it (even if Emery, Monchi and NSWE all come out and deny it - he'll just mutter about "well they would say that just to make the player feel better") so he's in a no-lose position really.
  7. allani

    Ezri Konsa

    allani replied to MaVilla's topic in Villa Talk

    There's been a lot of (mostly horse ****) written about us having to sell players to avoid breaching FFP in the press and in SM. I think it is pretty clear now that we don't (or at least not any that we want to keep). Whether any players will push for a move (for more money or a better shot at winning major trophies) or whether we sell because we get an exceptional offer is another matter. However, I don't think I have ever been as confident in the following: (1) the owner won't sell a player that the manager wants to keep (2) if a key player wants to move, we'll have done a pretty good job at trying to persuade them to stay (3) if a key player is sold, we'll spend the money wisely and minimise the impact as much as is possible (4) I believe that Monchi / Emery have a list of "replacements" for every single player in the match day squad - so if Player A is sold, we'll have targets already in place and a plan to deal with the situation. So whilst I don't want us to sell any key players (and I don't expect us to either) - if we do I am 95% certain that I won't go into a complete meltdown and will be confident that we might even start next season with a better team / squad. M/E and NSWE will have us covered.
  8. allani

    Ezri Konsa

    allani replied to MaVilla's topic in Villa Talk

    I absolutely love the fact that any first team regular at Villa would think it madness to consider moving to United. Shows how much progress we have made and the vision / plan that we have for the future.
  9. allani

    Ezri Konsa

    allani replied to MaVilla's topic in Villa Talk

    I think the most likely would be Moreno Pau Ty Konsa. When we have the ball and Moreno is attacking I think we'll see us drift into Pau Ty and Konsa as the back three. I think Ty needs to be the central one of the three as he's better at dealing with any high balls into the opposition CF and / or covering the central area for a cross if / when Pau or Konsa go out to deal with a wider counter-attack.
  10. allani
    I thought that it looked like he was enjoying playing today. Seems to have a much better understanding of what he's being asked to do and more on the wavelength of the other players.
  11. allani
    I thought he looked pretty good today. Made some excellent runs from the middle of the pitch - didn't get as many decisions as he should have done. He was fouled, carried on, fouled, carried on and then lost the ball a few times when the ref should have then called play back for either of fouls during the run. There was one run in particular where two defenders should have been booked for pulling him back but the ref (who mainly had a good game) only decided to punish the second pull.
  12. allani
    Comfortable win. I thought that Duran looked good when he came on and Zaniolo looks like he's starting to enjoy football again. Torres is just SO good - it's a delight to watch him in claret and blue. The other good news is that Spurs now have to win their game in hand by more than 1. Another match negotiated.
  13. allani
    Referee from Manchester........
  14. allani
    Keep scoring 20 goals and 10 assists for Villa. Feel the love from a proper coach / manager / tactician. Say **** you to one of the most boring England managers we have ever had. Some people bang on about Southgate's record in tournaments whilst overlooking the fact that I think he's only ever played one team ranked higher in the FIFA rankings (France last time out). We've had an extraordinary run of avoiding the fancied teams even when it looked like we'd drawn the tough half - all the other teams somehow found a way of either ending up in the other half or losing to a team they were expected to beat. We had Croatia and Italy for toast and both times rather than killing them off, Southgate got us to sit back and allow their midfielders the time and space to start dictating the game. I don't get the whole "he's got us to a semi-final and a final" thing - for me he cost us both tournaments (or at least the chance of getting to the final in the first).
  15. allani
    Certainly not with the way that we try and play. However, I could see that there might be other systems / approaches that might suit Toney's game better. Without meaning to be patronising I could see Toney fitting into a Moyes / Dyche side a bit better. He might even be a better fit for Brentford. But for us - I'd take Ollie every day of every week.
  16. allani
    A mid-table team are probably thinking that they are about 6 - 10 points shy of maybe qualifying for Europe. I actually think that there would be a few who would see that Cash would represent decent value both in defence and attack. Chelsea for example will spend big money on almost anyone...
  17. allani
    A quick look at his stats on fbref (I know you can't just rely on stats) suggest that he doesn't win many aerial battles. Very happy to be corrected on that as you've obviously seen a lot more of him than me. But I do worry that without Mings we are suspect against crosses into the box. I like Konsa and Pau a lot (and Pau seems to be adjusting to the physicality of the PL) but they're a lot better on the deck / tackling people with the ball at their feet than they are defending crosses. I don't want an old fashioned "clogger" but I do think we need someone like Mings who can do both jobs - dominate in the air and play / control the ball the way that Emery wants us to play. I'm just slightly concerned from the stats that Todibo is excellent at the latter but let strong at the former. Like I say you've probably more knowledge on him so hopefully it's a case of the stats being misleading.
  18. allani
    That and the fact that I agree with @TRO and we need another defender with some aerial prowess. Still good in the deck but also more powerful in the air. I think there are several CBs around who can fit into the way we want to play out of the back AND give us more power to defend / attack set pieces. Not sure on Todibo's strengths in that regard (just not enough knowledge).
  19. allani
    Jonathon Ross has just bought one. An MG Wover.
  20. allani
    Yeah I've been underwhelmed by Carlos this season.
  21. allani
    Agreed. For the battle for 4th - 8th I think our offensive and defensive numbers stack up pretty well. But if we want to do more than consolidate our position in that battle each season (which would still be a tremendous step forward from the last 20 years) then the numbers need to improve. I do think that a lot hinges on how well Mings comes back from his injury. I think he adds that physicality, aerial strength whilst still being pretty good with the ball at his feet and being able to win the ball back and quickly transition into attack / control of the ball. I don't think that it's a one or the other - there are a handful of players just in the PL who I think could deliver both and who we'd have a pretty decent shout of being able to sign. As you and I have said many times through the years it's about balance. I think all I was trying to say is that part of the reason we've lost a bit of balance is because we've had so many injuries in very specific areas this season - almost all of which have been in more "defensive" positions. So whilst I definitely think that another Kamara-esque DM, a RB (unless Kosta turns out to be a genius signing who can have an immediate impact) and a prospect CB (to replace Lenglet / Hause / Chambers) are high on the priority list - I think some of that balance would naturally return if Mings, Ramsey and Buendia return in the summer and we can avoid having so many CBs out at the same time next season.
  22. allani
    PS - with the exception of Liverpool, Arsenal and City - only Everton and Man Utd have conceded fewer goals than us. We've scored 21 more goals than Utd and 31 more than Everton - so I'm not sure we should be modelling our set-up on them. Let's say that Spurs win their game in hand 1-0 (and I really hope they don't) we'd then have exactly the same record as them in terms of wins, losses, draws, goals for and goals against. Interestingly last season our defence was the joint 7th best - this season we are joing 6th best. We finished last season with a GD of +5 and this season it currently stands at +18. If we continue this season's goals against rate then we'll finish off conceding 9 goals more than last season. Given all the defensive injuries we've had (not just to defenders but including Kamara, Buendia and Ramsey) that's not awful. Again I'm not saying that I disagree with your general point. Just that maybe it isn't quite as critical as it might appear.
  23. allani
    Except last season our goals against was good and our goals for was poor. Didn't Emi break a record on clean sheets last season? 12 months ago our issue was definitely scoring goals rather than conceding them. We have played most of the season without either of our first choice left-sided midfielders, a recognised DM and probably the two players who headed the ball most frequently in the box (Mings and Buendia - although that is based on memory rather than any confirmed statistics). That said I do agree that my focus for the summer would be (mainly) defensive: - I would like another ball-playing DM to cover for Kamara but also allow us to play a Kamara, DM, Dougie three when we want / need to lock down the midfield. - I'm not convinced by Konsa at RB (he seems to lose his defensive ability and he doesn't offer enough going forwards) but I don't think that Cash is quite good enough in either direction. - We need more aerial power in the box (both ends of the pitch). However, assuming that Buendia, Ramsey and Mings return from the summer in close to peak fitness (a big assumption I know) I'm wondering how many of those gaps they would / could fill? Would slotting Mings into our defensive line and having Buendia / Ramsey rotating on the left solve most of our defensive issues without inhibiting our new attacking threat? Questions that would probably have been resolved during this season but may not be resolved before the end of pre-season.
  24. allani
    I know. This plaice only seems to accept fish based puns.....
  25. allani
    Looks like a Jem of a player.... (collects coat and siddles quietly out of the forum)
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